More from the Smokies

The dreary weather was still with us on Wednesday, November 8, when we decided to visit the Tremont area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We again entered the park by way of Wears Valley and the Metcalf Bottoms picnic area. Or, I should say, we tried to enter that way.

Just before reaching the picnic area, we encountered a semi which had tried to maneuver its way down the winding mountain road and had become hopelessly stuck on one of the curves. The road is narrow, so our only alternative was to back up a quarter of a mile or so until we reached a small pull-out, providing access to a hiking trail, where we could turn around and drive back out to a public highway.

Stuck Truck

One of the things that contributes to the beauty of the Smoky Mountains is the presence of an abundance of rivers and streams which flow beside roadways and hiking trails all through the park. We found the rivers at Tremont running strong.

Following is a short video clip, that will allow you to hear the sound of the river pictured above.

As we began a short hike up the Middle Prong Trail, we saw a man carrying a rubber raft. His intent was obvious. He planned to raft down that river. Well, we had to hang around to see how that went.

You can see for yourself in the following video clip.

After our hike, as we returned to our car, the rafter was just loading his raft onto the roof of his truck and preparing to leave. We approached him to let him know that we'd gotten some photos and videos of his ride down the river. We gave him our contact information in case he wanted copies. 

While we were talking, two other guys unloaded kayaks from their vehicle and started toward the river. Aaron, the rafting guy, asked if he could join them. They welcomed him, so Doug and I got set to take some more pictures and video of the three of them.

Following is a short video clip of Aaron and his new friends.

We were losing daylight by the time we left Tremont, but we wanted to work in a visit to the Sinks, since the water everywhere seemed to be flowing well. The Sinks is always a pretty place to visit, but especially during good water flow.

The path pictured above leads past a recently constructed official overlook at the Sinks to a view that's much better than what the overlook provides. Doug got the following photo from up there, with the video camera. My camera wasn't handling the low light very well.

The Sinks

There was a group of four guys with kayaks preparing to enter the river on the far side of the bridge and then ride their kayaks over the waterfall. The video of the action is below. It's almost two minutes long, but it's fun to watch.

We never get tired of the Smokies. There's always something new to see and experience.